Woman admits assaulting one-month-old baby boy

Shaazia Arshad inflicted nearly 30 separate injuries on the baby

A woman has admitted assaulting a one-month-old baby boy so violently the infant was left with injuries like those suffered in a serious car crash.

Shaazia Arshad, 26, inflicted nearly 30 separate injuries on the baby, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told the baby had been born healthy, and had no conditions that might have made his bones brittle.

Arshad, of Alloa, admitted assaulting the baby to his severe injury and will be sentenced on 16 April.

The court was told that a health visitor who checked on the baby when he was three weeks old reported him well, calm when handled, and had no visible injuries when a naked weight check was carried out.

A few days later, Arshad's partner returned from a shower to see the baby crying and his left eyelid swollen.

Arshad rang him later to say the baby's leg "didn't look right".

He drove home and noticed the baby's leg was badly swollen from his knee to his ankle, and was rock-hard and red.

He took the baby straight to a GP's surgery, where a doctor noticed the baby let out a "horrible" cry the instant he was taken out of his car seat and examined.

Prosecutor Alistair McDermid said multiple skeletal surveys revealed that injuries "that had been inflicted" on him included a haemorrhaged and bruised eyelid, 19 broken ribs, a broken right arm, two broken thighs, and tibia and fibula fractures on both legs.

Mr McDermid said: "Injuries of this type are those that would usually be expected in a significant road traffic collision.

"They would have caused this baby substantial pain."

The court heard that throughout the baby's time in hospital, various medical professionals attempted to obtain a history of events but Arshad was unable to explain how the baby came by his injuries.

The court was told that the baby is said to have made a full recovery.

John McBride, defending, said the facts as narrated by the prosecution were "accepted without issue".

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson deferred sentence for reports and continued bail.

He said: "A custodial sentence will clearly be at the forefront of the court's consideration."